This week on the New Music Business podcast, Ari sits down with Chris Farren, Grammy-nominated songwriter and founder of Combustion Music, a Nashville-based music publishing and artist development company responsible for more than 100 number-one hits.

Chris shares decades of experience navigating the music business, from writing hit songs to building a publishing company and developing artists. Ari and Chris break down how professional songwriters get signed, how songwriting rooms work, how publishing deals and advances are structured, and how songwriters earn royalties.

Follow Chris Farren:

https://www.instagram.com/combustionmusic/

https://www.combustionmusic.com/

Check out Ari’s Take:

https://aristake.com

05:54 - Building a music publishing company and developing artists

15:32 - How music publishers pay songwriters

26:07 - Songwriting as a craft: practice, productivity, and getting better

28:16 - Teaching songwriters to write for the market without sacrificing creativity

30:44 - Writing songs for specific artists

32:00 - How artists' involvement in songwriting has changed

37:58 - How songwriting rooms work

39:15 - Pitching songs and getting them to artists

57:51 - Music catalogs and the renewed life of older songs

58:37 - Advice for aspiring professional songwriters

Edited and mixed by Ruben Zarate

Music by Brassroots District

Produced by the team at Ari’s Take

Order the THIRD EDITION of How to Make It in the New Music Business: https://book.aristake.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on the New Music Business podcast, Ari sits down with Joe Lim, founder and CEO of Floodify, a marketing technology company that has distributed over 2 million short-form videos for major labels including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music.

Joe pulls back the curtain on the rapidly evolving world of music marketing, explaining how burner accounts, clipping networks, AI-generated content, fan pages, influencer campaigns, and algorithm-driven distribution are shaping the careers of artists today. We explore the ethics behind these tactics, the concept of the “dead internet,” how major labels and marketers use social media at scale, and what independent artists can learn from these strategies.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joelimmmmm

Floodify: https://www.floodify.io/

Check out Ari’s Take:

https://aristake.com

04:42 – Welcome & State of Modern Music Marketing

07:06 – Why Music Marketing is Behind Other Industries

08:42 – What Are Burners, Fan Pages, and Clipping?

13:29 – Commercialized Clipping & Platforms Like WHOP

17:19 – Phone Farms and Managing Accounts at Scale

21:21 – Using AI to Find and Generate Viral Clips

29:56 – Modern Marketing Strategies for Independent Artists

31:19 – The Evolution of Floodify (Floodify 2.0)

40:41 – Dead Internet Theory, Bots, and Comment Farming

44:25 – Is Authenticity Dead? Playing the Game to Make a Career

Edited and mixed by Ruben Zarate

Music by Brassroots District

Produced by the team at Ari’s Take

Order the THIRD EDITION of How to Make It in the New Music Business: https://book.aristake.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on the New Music Business podcast, Ari sits down with Toni Nelson, artist manager, business manager, and co-founder of 1990 Records.

Toni Nelson is an artist manager and co-founder of 1990 Records with a background in retail fashion and mental health clinical work. Combining expertise in behavioral science with music industry operations, Nelson specializes in sustainable artist development, data analytics, and guiding independent artists like Adrian Daniel, to build long-term, monetizable careers while protecting their intellectual property.

Follow Toni Nelson:

https://www.instagram.com/1990records19/

https://1990records.org/

Check out Ari’s Take:

https://aristake.com

04:01 - What it Means to Build a Creative & Fan Community

09:00 - Protecting IP & Using Split Sheets in the Studio

13:14 - Navigating Producer Credits, Writer Splits & Work for Hire

18:18 - Release Strategies & Tracking Data with Music Analytics

23:27 - How Independent Artists Can Monetize Their Audience

27:38 - Staying Independent vs. Label Licensing Deals

32:45 - When is an Emerging Artist Ready to Tour?

36:22 - Case Study: Developing Adrian Daniel's Career

43:17 - Mental Health & What It Means to Make It in Music

Edited and mixed by Ruben Zarate

Music by Brassroots District

Produced by the team at Ari’s Take

Order the THIRD EDITION of How to Make It in the New Music Business: https://book.aristake.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.